RICHARD
11-15-2004, 07:22 PM
Man survives 3,500ft fall
A British skydiver has survived a 3,500ft fall after his parachute failed to open.
Charlie Williams, 25, was saved by a corrugated iron roof he smashed through at 120mph.
It broke the army officer's fall as he landed on a shanty town in Kenya, reports the Sun.
He escaped with three cracked vertebrae and a dislocated finger and is now recovering at his parents' home in Bradford.
Charlie said: "I don't know if I'm very lucky or very unlucky. I'm alive and frankly that's all that matters."
He clipped the side of the aircraft and was sent spiralling head-first after he leapt from a Cessna 102 plane.
As he pulled his ripcord his feet got entangled in the rigging. Charlie hurtled towards the ground with the canopy flapping uselessly.
He said: "I was very frightened and I was panicking. My body position meant it was impossible to deploy my reserve parachute."
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Now,when I hit a corrugated iron roof at 120 mph I really don't expect to get away so easily....
:eek:
A British skydiver has survived a 3,500ft fall after his parachute failed to open.
Charlie Williams, 25, was saved by a corrugated iron roof he smashed through at 120mph.
It broke the army officer's fall as he landed on a shanty town in Kenya, reports the Sun.
He escaped with three cracked vertebrae and a dislocated finger and is now recovering at his parents' home in Bradford.
Charlie said: "I don't know if I'm very lucky or very unlucky. I'm alive and frankly that's all that matters."
He clipped the side of the aircraft and was sent spiralling head-first after he leapt from a Cessna 102 plane.
As he pulled his ripcord his feet got entangled in the rigging. Charlie hurtled towards the ground with the canopy flapping uselessly.
He said: "I was very frightened and I was panicking. My body position meant it was impossible to deploy my reserve parachute."
---------------------------------------------------------------
Now,when I hit a corrugated iron roof at 120 mph I really don't expect to get away so easily....
:eek: